MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas - Larry Ray Swearingen's sixth request for a stay of his execution was denied Friday, according to authorities.

Swearingen's execution is scheduled for Wednesday. He has avoided lethal injection five times.

Swearingen was convicted of the 1998 kidnapping and murder of 19-year-old college student Melissa Trotter, of Willis.

The crime

On Dec. 8, 1998, Melissa Trotter, 19, disappeared from what is now
the Lone Star College campus near The Woodlands. Swearingen was arrested
on outstanding traffic warrants on Dec. 11. Prosecutors said he
initially became a suspect because surveillance video showed Swearingen
talking with Trotter at the North Shore Marina two days before her
disappearance, when the pair made lunch plans. Court records said
Swearingen was seen with Trotter on campus the day she disappeared.
Investigators said Trotter's car remained on campus the day she
disappeared. Trotter's body was found in the Sam Houston National Forest
on Jan. 2, 1999. A memorial plaque to Trotter remains on the campus.

Prosecutors said friends of Trotter initially told investigators about Swearingen.

"They notified police (and said), 'Hey, we saw Melissa talking
with this guy. This is what he looked like. This is what his truck
looked like,'" said Kelly Blackburn, trial bureau chief for the
Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.